Good Morning,
Sorry it is a long post but im really after some "Appeal Writing" advice...
on the 28th July myself and 3 friends were going to London to watch the olympic Cycling, i had previously rung up the national rail helpline and enquired regarding trains prices etc, we were quoted a train with FCC that left Peterborough at 08:18am, this fit with our joining service as that got into P'boro at 08:16, we went through the prices and he said as there was 4 adults we could get a groupsave 4 ticket which would be £9 each for a return ticket.. this was brilliant and beat the othertrains by £30-£40, i asked if i could buy the tickets in P'boro or on the FCC train to London and he said he would advise because of the short time we had between our train arriving at P'boro and the London one leaving the best option was to buy the tickets ON the train.
We left on Sat morning, got to Peterborough and made itacross to the First Cap train to London KX, the train left on time (08:18) we got all the way to London without ANY Ticket Officers, The voice that announced each station was a computer and so had gone all the way with No "security"on the train,No "Ticket inspectors" NOTHING, we arrived in KX and went straight to the "Unpaid Tickets" desk to get the tickets etc and so we could leave KX, When we got to the desk we were met by 6 staff all staring and crowded round us, we explained we couldnt get the tickets in P'boro as the time between trains was too little and that i had confirmed all the details and options to buy tickets with the helpline the night before, IMMEDIATLEY one of the staff members replied with "YOUR LYING" to which we were all a little shocked surely if we were lying wed of said we got on nearer to London for cheaper tickets... He went away and came back and said "Ive spoke to my supervisor who thinks your ALL LIARS too so will be charged a penalty fair, You will not be able to buy the ticket you were quoted and in stead its 2 x the price of a single ticket so you have to pay £58" Again i tried to explain none of us were trying to avoid a fare or mislead anyone i even showed them our tickets from our home station to Peterborough to prove thats where wed come from and returning too, Again we were called Liars and the rest of the staff there were closed right in on us making it a VERY intimidating time.
He said the only options were:
1) Pay £58 and thats the end of it.
2) Pay £29 and well take your name and address and you must pay/appeal the remaining £29 within 21 days.
3) Dont pay anything and appeal or "Face the consequences" within 21 days
As were were not been listened too and there was no reasoning etc we elected for option 2 as we were always out to buy a ticket just not given the chance so effectivley option 2 showed this albeit more expensive than the original £9 each.
They took our name and address's but then also rang a number who happily confirmed that was my name and address then they let us out the barriers and away....
My argument is:
1) We confirmed with the helpline that buying a ticket at P'boro OR on the train was absolutely fine, the train then had NO staff at all by the look of it apart from a driver, now this to me is ridiculous especially on day 1of the olympics a train DIRECT into Kings Cross had no staff or security in place!
2) The staff at KX were very rude, arrogant and chose to tell us we were LIARS despite showing other tickets etc of where we had come from and explaining there was NO STAFF on the train and no more than 1 monute to get from train to train so via the other side of the station to the ticket office wasnt within time.
3) After they took our name and address who do they ring that happily just gave out my details to them to "Confirm" i was that person at that address without my permission or telling me who they were ringing..?
4) Lastly when i paid the £29 i first tried topay by card, i put my pin in and then he gave me my card back but said it had declined, didnt think much too it at first definatly had money there but i have had probs before with my card and train ticket machines sometimes not going through straight away, i paid in cash but it wasnt until i had left the station and was across London i thought that he never showed me the "declined" screen, and never gave me any receipt or anything to say it had declined...
Andof topic a little but all of the staff members could barely speak english let alone understand what we were telling them there was numerous times they looked at each other trying to explain to themselves what we had said...
This is probably the busiest train station for people in the UK to arrive into London and yet the most unprofessional staff ive ever come across not to mention the lack of staff etc ON THE TRAIN for 100 miles!
What would you guys do next??
Thanks
Sorry it is a long post but im really after some "Appeal Writing" advice...
on the 28th July myself and 3 friends were going to London to watch the olympic Cycling, i had previously rung up the national rail helpline and enquired regarding trains prices etc, we were quoted a train with FCC that left Peterborough at 08:18am, this fit with our joining service as that got into P'boro at 08:16, we went through the prices and he said as there was 4 adults we could get a groupsave 4 ticket which would be £9 each for a return ticket.. this was brilliant and beat the othertrains by £30-£40, i asked if i could buy the tickets in P'boro or on the FCC train to London and he said he would advise because of the short time we had between our train arriving at P'boro and the London one leaving the best option was to buy the tickets ON the train.
We left on Sat morning, got to Peterborough and made itacross to the First Cap train to London KX, the train left on time (08:18) we got all the way to London without ANY Ticket Officers, The voice that announced each station was a computer and so had gone all the way with No "security"on the train,No "Ticket inspectors" NOTHING, we arrived in KX and went straight to the "Unpaid Tickets" desk to get the tickets etc and so we could leave KX, When we got to the desk we were met by 6 staff all staring and crowded round us, we explained we couldnt get the tickets in P'boro as the time between trains was too little and that i had confirmed all the details and options to buy tickets with the helpline the night before, IMMEDIATLEY one of the staff members replied with "YOUR LYING" to which we were all a little shocked surely if we were lying wed of said we got on nearer to London for cheaper tickets... He went away and came back and said "Ive spoke to my supervisor who thinks your ALL LIARS too so will be charged a penalty fair, You will not be able to buy the ticket you were quoted and in stead its 2 x the price of a single ticket so you have to pay £58" Again i tried to explain none of us were trying to avoid a fare or mislead anyone i even showed them our tickets from our home station to Peterborough to prove thats where wed come from and returning too, Again we were called Liars and the rest of the staff there were closed right in on us making it a VERY intimidating time.
He said the only options were:
1) Pay £58 and thats the end of it.
2) Pay £29 and well take your name and address and you must pay/appeal the remaining £29 within 21 days.
3) Dont pay anything and appeal or "Face the consequences" within 21 days
As were were not been listened too and there was no reasoning etc we elected for option 2 as we were always out to buy a ticket just not given the chance so effectivley option 2 showed this albeit more expensive than the original £9 each.
They took our name and address's but then also rang a number who happily confirmed that was my name and address then they let us out the barriers and away....
My argument is:
1) We confirmed with the helpline that buying a ticket at P'boro OR on the train was absolutely fine, the train then had NO staff at all by the look of it apart from a driver, now this to me is ridiculous especially on day 1of the olympics a train DIRECT into Kings Cross had no staff or security in place!
2) The staff at KX were very rude, arrogant and chose to tell us we were LIARS despite showing other tickets etc of where we had come from and explaining there was NO STAFF on the train and no more than 1 monute to get from train to train so via the other side of the station to the ticket office wasnt within time.
3) After they took our name and address who do they ring that happily just gave out my details to them to "Confirm" i was that person at that address without my permission or telling me who they were ringing..?
4) Lastly when i paid the £29 i first tried topay by card, i put my pin in and then he gave me my card back but said it had declined, didnt think much too it at first definatly had money there but i have had probs before with my card and train ticket machines sometimes not going through straight away, i paid in cash but it wasnt until i had left the station and was across London i thought that he never showed me the "declined" screen, and never gave me any receipt or anything to say it had declined...
Andof topic a little but all of the staff members could barely speak english let alone understand what we were telling them there was numerous times they looked at each other trying to explain to themselves what we had said...
This is probably the busiest train station for people in the UK to arrive into London and yet the most unprofessional staff ive ever come across not to mention the lack of staff etc ON THE TRAIN for 100 miles!
What would you guys do next??
Thanks